Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 27, 2013, at Rhodes Funeral Home with Rev. Mike White officiating. Masonic services will be held at 5:30 p.m. today, June 26, 2013, at the funeral home with the family receiving friends from 6-8 p.m. Burial with military honors will be in Rose Hill Cemetery, Brookfield.

Memorials to the Kidney Foundation or the Diabetes Association may be left at or mailed to the funeral home at 216 Linn St., Brookfield, Mo. 64628. Online condolences may be left at www.rhodesfh.com.

Robert Gene was born September 22, 1929, in Denison, Kan., son of Byron and Cynthia Elizabeth (Bowser) Gardner. June 8, 1979, he married Maxine Scott in Laclede.

He was a member of the Masons, Evangelical United Methodist Church, the Eagles Lodge for many years, and a lifetime member of VFW. He joined the Marines in June 1948 and served aboard the USS Valley Forge CV45 during the Korean War. He was discharged in June 1952. He then joined the U.S. Air Force and was an air traffic controller at Offutt Air Force Base. He was discharged in February 1959. He then went to worked for CB & Q Railroad in February 1953. He was laid off in February 1955. He then went back into the U.S. Air Force for four years and went back to work for the railroad in 1959. He retired from the railroad in August 1991.